The Chronic Diaries

Physical and mental breakdowns are like an uncontrollable fire that we often feel will never end. Surviving that inferno is incredibly difficult, but if you can fight through it, you will be able to rise from the ashes and live to fight another day!
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

When you are chronically ill, it feels as if you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, or in this instance, stuck between two giant rocks.
You begin to believe that you will never be able to escape and that you will forever feel crushed by the pressure and pain that the rocks cause.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

The human body is confusing. My body is extremely confusing.
It doesn't know what it wants to do, so it's always twisting and turning and doing all sorts of things that I don't understand that cause me so much grief, both physically and mentally.
My body is my own personal version of hell.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

Brain fog, a cognitive malfunction where you lose all focus and you can’t think straight, is a common occurrence that everyone experiences.
One of the many symptoms of one of my health conditions is a type of brain fog where it can get so bad I can lose the ability to even form sentences with my mouth or even function for periods of time.

Chronic pain can take someone down for months at a time, where in those months they are rarely able to even get out of bed.
It changes a persons life forever, and it can get so bad that they are never able to live their lives the same way again.
It can be completely crippling.

The oxygen that keeps us alive can be temporarily taken away in an instant when the pain gets to unbearable levels and the only way we can get any sort of relief is through a machine that gives us the extra oxygen we need.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

Sometimes things happen in our lives that change us, they change us so much that we lose our identity, we become a shell of what we once were, we become faceless.
Will you allow yourself to succumb to the pain of not knowing who you are, or will you stand and fight to regain your identity?
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

With every new diagnosis I get, I feel like I'm losing a little bit more of my soul each time.
My body is no longer what it once was, and my soul has shared the same fate.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

There are times in our lives where we are so on edge and everything is going so wrong that we feel that life isn't worth it. It feels like the threads of life are about to snap and we are about to descend down a dark path which can't be reversed.
Will you escape the breaking thread and keep on fighting, or will you wait for it to snap and let the knife fall and claim you as its victim?
I have chosen to fight!

Being chronically ill, you quickly find out who you can trust, and who you shouldn't have trusted in the first place.
Once you start to get sick some of your so called "friends" can often throw your friendship away and make you feel like complete trash, all because of something that is out of your control.

Through all the hardships including learning to live with a myriad of health conditions, all the doctors visits, all the tests and all the setbacks, one thing is for certain. My experiences with my health have helped me grow as a person, and have helped made me who I am today.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

Anxiety can change your life.
It can get so bad that you can't do things that you use to be able to do, you become afraid of things that you once loved, and it can make you never want to leave the house again and just wither away until you meet your bitter end.

When you are chronically ill, it’s as if bed simultaneously becomes both your best friend and your worst enemy.
You find yourself despising the fact that you are in bed constantly, but at the same time it is a much more comfortable place to be while you are unwell.

When you first begin to realise how sick you are, your world starts to crumble down around you.
It may only crumble a small bit at first, but once the symptoms begin to take over, it crumbles so much that it can seem impossible to keep your mind and body from completely breaking down.

There are things that those who are healthy take for granted, such as being able to walk, run, or even just having a shower without passing out.
Being chronically ill changes all that. It helps you to appreciate the small things and the things that others take for granted
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

There are times where we crack under pressure. All the pain and suffering get too much, and we can’t handle it anymore. We lose all of our sanity that we once had.
It’s terrifying when it happens, but we just have to find a way to calm down and not let our physical condition take over our state of mind.

Sometimes we can get into situations which make us feel trapped and like we can't get out of them.
Just remember that there is always hope! Just hold on to what little hope you may have, try as hard as you can to get out of the situation and you will get there eventually!

We all have our own little worlds that we escape to inside our heads.
They are supposed to be like little bubbles that keep us safe and happy.
However, some of our bubbles are like our own personal version of hell.
Conceptual/Fine Art Portrait Photographer | Based In Albury/Wodonga | Available To Travel.

Sometimes you can feel the fatigue coming on, other times you can't and it hits you so hard that it knocks you on your feet and it feels like you won't be able to get back up.
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When you do feel the fatigue coming on, brace for impact and try to push through it, no matter how exhausting it may get.

Chronic illness can be suffocating both physically and mentally.
It can drain every last bit of energy we have and it feels as if we have a plastic bag over our heads choking every last bit of life out of our bodies.